Brady&ndash;Belichick era

Brady–Belichick era

The Tom Brady and Bill Belichick era, as commonly referred to by sports fans, is the sports dynasty formed by quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick, who have led the New England Patriots in the National Football League (NFL) since 2000. The dynasty has also been referred to as the Patriots Dynasty.
Brady and Belichick have been considered to be the greatest in their respective positions in league history, and are considered responsible for one of the sport's longest and most dominant dynasties. Whereas the Patriots had only appeared in (and lost) two Super Bowls prior to the Brady-Belichick era, the Patriots have appeared in nine Super Bowls since (more than any other franchise), of which they have won six (tied for all-time with the Pittsburgh Steelers). The team also appeared in eight straight AFC Championship games between 2011 and 2018, and have recorded the only undefeated 16-game regular season. During the Brady-Belichick era, the Patriots have completed eighteen consecutive winning seasons from 2001 to 2018 and boast a .784 win percentage against their division opponents. Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss was traded to New England in 2007 after lackluster play for the Oakland Raiders, but went on to catch 23 touchdowns in 2007, setting an NFL record. Belichick drafted wide receiver Julian Edelman in the 7th round. Edelman went on to set a franchise record for postseason receptions and caught one of the most memorable catches in Super Bowl LI. Most notably, Belichick is credited with drafting quarterback Tom Brady with the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. Brady would go on to help the Patriots form a dynasty that has lasted from 2001 onwards, and currently holds every NFL postseason passing record except yards per attempt and completion percentage.
Belichick is third all-time for wins as a coach. He is the longest tenured active coach in the NFL, and has won the most postseason games, at 31.
Due to questions about his starting ability in college and uninspiring physical statistics, Brady fell in the 2000 Draft until he was selected in the 6th round by the New England Patriots. He did not start until the next year, when franchise quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who had just signed a 10-year, $100 million contract that offseason, was injured by a sideline hit by Jets linebacker Mo Lewis.
Brady went 11-3 as a starter in 2001, leading the Patriots to the Super Bowl against the St. Louis Rams. Despite trailing 17-3 in the second half, the Rams stormed back to tie the game 17-17 with 1:30 left in the game. With no time outs, the Patriots drove downfield to set up a 48-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri to win the game in the closing seconds.
Brady currently holds the NFL postseason record for appearances, wins, pass attempts, completions, yards, and touchdowns. In the Super Bowl, Brady holds the record for most pass attempts, completions, touchdowns, and yards. In Super Bowl LI, he helped the Patriots, who were down 28-3 in the third quarter against the Atlanta Falcons, score 31 unanswered points and win the game in overtime, 34-28. He set a Super Bowl record 462 yards passing. The following year, he broke his own record by throwing a record 505 yards in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Brady currently holds every Super Bowl record in passing except for completion percentage and interceptions. In his 9 appearances in 18 years, he has come away with 6 wins and 4 Super Bowl MVPs.
Brady and Belichick era
In the 2000 NFL Draft, first year head coach Bill Belichick was looking for ways to improve the New England team that had not been to a Super Bowl since 1996. Belichick had been hired after Pete Carroll was fired following the 1999 season. Prior to the draft the Patriots sent quarterbacks coach Dick Rehbein to scout quarterbacks for the draft. When Rehbein returned he stated that Brady is the best quarterback prospect for the Patriots system. Despite the Patriots already having a franchise quarterback in Drew Bledsoe, the Patriots drafted Tom Brady in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft.
2000-02: Beginnings and first Super Bowl
In 2000, Belichick had a tall order, having to help a Patriots team who still had Super Bowl aspirations after losing Super Bowl XXXI to the Green Bay Packers. Belichick, however, had one of the most damning quotes on the 2000 roster. Nearly 18 years later, Belichick reminisced, "Well, I mean, I’d say first of all, the biggest difference is in 2000, a quarter of the team couldn't pass the conditioning run, so that wasn’t a very good start. We don’t really deal with that now or haven't dealt with that in a while. Yeah, I don’t think there was a lot of commitment with that group. We obviously made a lot of changes from 2000 to 2001, and a lot of the guys that we stuck with from that team became pillars of the program, the organization in later years."
The Patriots went 5-11; the last losing season the Patriots have had as of 2018. Belichick, after a loss during the season, claimed that "I can't win games with 40 good players while the other team has 53" after lots of players showed up to camp out of condition.
In 2001, Belichick made major reforms. The beginning of the culture he brought to New England, dubbed the "Patriot Way", was beginning to show with wide receiver Terry Glenn's contract holdout. The Patriots could not afford to raise Glenn's salary, and Belichick suspended Glenn indefinitely after repeated failed drug tests. Glenn did not receive a ring when the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI that year.
The Patriots started 0-1, and faced a division rival in Week 2 against the New York Jets. Late in the game, down 10-3, quarterback Drew Bledsoe rolled out of the pocket and tried to scramble down the sideline, until he was nearly fatally hit by Jet's linebacker Mo Lewis. The internal bleeding almost killed Bledsoe later that day, and the concussion alone took him out of the game. The Patriots lost the game, moving to 0-2. Backup Tom Brady started for the next game against the Indianapolis Colts, the first of 17 games in the famous Tom Brady-Peyton Manning rivalry, of which Brady has won 11, including two playoff games. The Patriots went 11-5, beat the Raiders in the Tuck Rule Game that closed Foxboro Stadium, then the Steelers on the road, ending the season with an upset of the heavily favored Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, 20-17.
The Patriots started off 2002 hot, winning their first three games to open up the new Gillette Stadium, but losing the next four. They ended with a 9-7 record, but a series of division tiebreakers forced the Patriots out of the playoffs. It was one of only two times in the Brady/Belichick era that the Patriots missed the playoffs, and the only time with Brady as their starting quarterback. (They also missed the playoffs in 2008, when Matt Cassel replaced an injured Brady)
2003-04: Back-to-back Super Bowls
Ahead of the 2003 season, Bill Belichick shocked the NFL world in the offseason by releasing strong safety Lawyer Milloy due to contract issues. In his replacement, he signed hard-hitting enforcer Rodney Harrison, whose career appeared to be on the decline until that point. By the time Harrison retired in 2008, he held the NFL record for most sacks by a defensive back (30.5), the first defensive player to have 30 sacks and 30 interceptions, and holds the Patriot team record for postseason interceptions, with seven.
However, many were shocked with Belichick's release of Milloy, whose job safety at the time seemed more secure than Brady's. The Patriots lost their season opener to the Buffalo Bills, who signed Milloy days earlier, 31-0. It would be the biggest loss of the Brady/Belichick era. What followed has been called one of the most successful two year stretches by a team in NFL history. The Patriots lost just three more games in 2003 and 2004 combined, culminating in back-to-back Super Bowl victories (Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX). In 2004, they set the then-NFL record for consecutive victories, from Week 5, 2003 through Week 7, 2004.
2005-06: Playoff disappointments
2005 was somewhat of a down year for the Patriots as they finished with a 10-6 record. The 2005 season featured injuries to many key players including safety Rodney Harrison and forced for the Patriots to start 45 different players throughout the season, an NFL record. Linebacker Tedy Bruschi suffered a stroke and missed the beginning of the season before returning for the October 30th game against the Buffalo Bills. Despite the injuries, the Patriots won the AFC East for the third straight time. They defeated the Jaguars in the Wildcard, but fell to the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Playoffs, committing five turnovers.
In 2006, the Patriots came back strong, going 12-4 and winning the AFC East again. After beating the Jets and Chargers in the wildcard and divisional rounds, they squandered a 21-3 halftime lead against the Indianapolis Colts in the Conference Championship, and lost 38-34.
2007: 16-0 record
In 2007, the Patriots became the first team to win every regular season game since the NFL schedule was extended to 16 games. They outscored opposing teams by an average of 36-17. Brady won MVP for the first time in his career, throwing for 4800 yards and an NFL record 50 touchdowns. Wide receiver Randy Moss, traded to New England from the Oakland Raiders for a mere 5th round pick, caught an NFL record 23 touchdown passes, a record that still stands. and 1st scoring defense The Patriots scored 31 unanswered points to win the Super Bowl 34-28 in overtime. It was the first Super Bowl to go to overtime, as well as the largest deficit overcome. Brady won his 4th Super Bowl MVP for setting a Super Bowl record 466 passing yards. 30 Super Bowl records were broken or tied in Super Bowl LI.
2017: Super Bowl loss
The Patriots started off the 2017 season slow yet again, going 2-2 until going 11-1 down the stretch to win another AFC East title and first seed in the AFC. Brady became the oldest MVP in the NFL, at 40. He also became the oldest quarterback to lead the NFL in passing with 4,577 yards. After defeating the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars in the playoffs, they faced backup quarterback Nick Foles and the high-powered Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII. The Patriots were aiming to be the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since they themselves won back-to-back from 2003-2004. In a high-scoring shootout, Brady was slated to lead the Patriots to another comeback victory late in the fourth quarter when Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham strip sacked Brady and the ball was recovered by the Eagles, securing a Patriots defeat, 41-33. Brady set another Super Bowl record with 505 yards passing, breaking the previous record he had set the year before.
2018: Sixth Super Bowl victory
The Patriots drew much criticism in the early weeks of 2018, after losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars and the winless Detroit Lions in the first three weeks, teams who ended below .500 on the season. However, the Patriots bounced back with a string of wins, including a Sunday Night thriller at home against the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs led by young phenom Patrick Mahomes, who would go on to throw over 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns that season and win the NFL MVP award.
In Week 14 at Miami, the Patriots led with 7 seconds left in the game. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill passed the ball to Kenny Stills, who then lateraled the ball to DeVante Parker, who in turn tossed the ball to Kenyan Drake. Drake then ran the remaining 53 yards for the touchdown with no time on the clock, immortalizing the play in NFL lore as the Miracle in Miami.
For the first time in almost a decade, the Patriots finished the season with more than four losses at 11-5, securing the AFC East for a record 10th consecutive time (an NFL record and tying the Atlanta Braves for most consecutive playoff berths) and the AFC's 2nd seed behind the 12-4 Chiefs. After defeating the Los Angeles Chargers handily 41-28 in the Divisional Round, the Patriots faced Mahomes and the vaunted Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. After leading 14-0 at halftime, the Patriots fought a comeback by the Chiefs, forcing the game to overtime tied 31-31. On the next drive, the Patriots quickly moved downfield through critical third down completions to Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, setting up a touchdown run by Rex Burkhead. Belichick and Brady earned their 3rd straight Super Bowl trip and their ninth overall, more than any other coach/quarterback duo.
In Super Bowl LIII, the Patriots' stiff defense held the high-scoring Los Angeles Rams offense to three points all game, sacking quarterback Jared Goff four times and intercepting him once, allowing a 57.6 passer rating. The Patriot offense started slow, with Brady throwing an early interception. However, they came back late in the fourth quarter with a 29 yard pass from Brady to Gronkowski, capped by a two yard run by rookie Sony Michel. One Stephen Gostkowski field goal later cemented the win, 13-3. It is the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever, and Brady and Belichick's sixth win together.
The "Patriot Way"
According to many writers and analysts, the culture that Bill Belichick upheld in New England, dubbed the "Patriot Way", helped to sustain the success the Patriots have enjoyed. Belichick has been known to be very punctual and attentive to detail in order to win.
In 2017, Brady's cap value was only $14 million. Moreover, the total cash spent on Brady in 2017 was a mere $1 million. Brady's willingness to take pay cuts allows the Patriots to spend that money elsewhere on more skilled players. A famous example of this was in the signing of Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss in 2007. According to Patriots executives, Brady restructured his contract to allow the Patriots to acquire the cap space needed to sign Moss. Moss would then go on to set the NFL single season receiving touchdown record, one that still stands today.
Another example of Belichick's disciplinarian demeanor is how he handled running back Jonas Gray. In Week 11, Gray rushed for 201 yards and set a franchise record for touchdowns in a game, with four. However, he was active in only five more games for the Patriots, and was released less than a year later. Although he had a stellar debut, he was often late to meetings and practice, something Belichick does not tolerate.
Deflategate was a controversy involving the allegation that Brady ordered the deliberate deflating of footballs used in the Patriots' victory against the Indianapolis Colts in the American Football Conference (AFC) Championship Game of the 2014-15 NFL playoffs. The controversy resulted in Brady being suspended for four games, the Patriots being fined $1 million and losing two draft picks, and saw the NFL later change the procedure for monitoring football pressure.
For his alleged part in the scandal, Brady was originally suspended by the league for four games of the 2015 regular season, but a federal judge later vacated his suspension, and allowed Brady to resume his playing duties for the entirety of the 2015 season. However, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Brady's four-game suspension, which became effective for the 2016 regular season. After losing a request for a rehearing, Brady chose to accept the suspension. The controversy remained a topic of discussion during the 2016 season, which concluded with the Patriots winning Super Bowl LI and Brady being named the MVP of the game.

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